Tag: #teamcarterfamily

Summer Road Trip 2024: “Motor City” and back again

This year’s epic summer road trip led us on many surprise adventures! We knew that we were going to see some fantastic friends along the way, but we also got a lot of surprise adventures in this road trip as well! Come along with us as we road trip from South Carolina, a stop in The Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, through Kentucky, a stop in Ohio and onto Detroit, Michigan and back!

We kicked off this trip with a familiar and place dear to our hearts: Maggie Valley, North Carolina. This trip we booked a night at The Rollingbrook Inn and enjoyed breakfast on the creek. We also took a familiar trip to Santa’s Land Theme Park and Zoo in Cherokee, North Carolina. Those people are like family, who recognize us year after year and you always go and feel like you have the whole park to yourself! (and most importantly, you have to put in your Christmas orders with the man in charge, Santa Claus). Santa’s Land is closed after Oct. 31st (you understand why…Christmas season and all), $27.67/person over 2 years old, opens mid-May – October, closed every Tuesday and Wednesday.

We had a stop over in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which is home to the famous Oak Ridge Lab of World War II and The American Museum of Science and Energy. The lab is still used today (but I’ve said too much already…plus the museum is the part open to the public unless you work there.) They did a great job of presenting “big science” and complex ideas about plutonium and splitting atoms for younger children to explore and they have lots of hands-on exhibits at the museum and live demonstrations about static electricity experiments. Adults and teens would also enjoy the history and reading behind all of the hands-on stations. Adult tickets were $10, kids ages 6-9 were $3, youth ages 10-17 were $5 for general admission.

Next, we traveled to Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky and stayed in Glasgow. There isn’t an entry fee to the park, but you do have to pay for the cave tours. We opted for the Discovery (self-guided) Tour, which was $12 for adults/$9 for kids. It took us 45 minutes to explore the cave rooms, including the famous “Rotunda” room and you could spend even longer in the Visitor’s Center reading about cave features and history. Mammoth Cave has over 600 miles of unexplored cave system and to date they have mapped about 420 miles! America’s (and the world’s) longest cave system was certainly impressive! Plus, no spelunking cave tours are required to see its grandeur!

We took a second day in Kentucky to see The Creation Museum, in Petersburg, Kentucky. This is a sister museum of The Ark Encounter, but since our time constraints only allowed for one museum, we chose this one as it was en route northbound. This museum has A LOT of reading, which we ran through most of the museum to catch up with our smallest who wanted to only see the dinosaurs (which are at the back of the museum). The animatronics of the museum are very cool. This museum makes a case for the Creationism theory, so the first part of the museum is making a Biblical worldview point (distinguished from over worldviews, such as evolution). There is a lot of history and more reading than we realized, but the highlights for us were the dinosaurs, the Noah exhibits (which covered some of what is at The Ark Encounter) and the 4D theatre experience of “Six Days.”

In Ohio, we stayed in Columbus for a night with our friends, the Lunas! It was fun to reconnect with them and we saw a lot of their favorite things around Columbus. We ate at The North Market (an indoor food court) with many food stalls and vendor shops. Upon their recommendation, we chose Serafino’s Pizza (so good!) We drove around the campus of The Ohio State University and explored Upper Arlington. We also spent the day at Olentangy Caverns in nearby Delaware, Ohio. Olentangy Caverns is a kid-friendly attraction park with self-guided cavern tours (about 30 minutes), a rock and gem shop, a treasure-hunt maze to get lost in, gem-mining, a petting zoo, mini-golf and museum. We opted for the all-access wristband ($27.99/adults, and $24.99/kids) that let’s you do all of the attractions (takes a few hours), or you can choose to do activities a la carte. Note: Olentangy Caverns shuts down November – March, but will reopen in Spring due to weather.

Hocking Hills State Park is also Ohio’s gem in the foothills! An immaculate state park, which is FREE to visit, with beautiful trails through the woods and a raptor rescue center to check out! The Grandma Gatewood Trail is also at this state park, but due to time, we opted for the easy Rim Trail and Old Man’s Cave Trail. The trail was partially paved and easy for families with small kids. The caves were a highlight to check out! The Visitor’s Center had a lot of nature info, aquariums and a riverbed with a cavern playscape to climb.

Coming up through Ohio, we also made a lunch stop at Maumee Bay State Park, near Toledo, Ohio. Maumee Bay State Park was also a free state park, with an inland pond/beach clearly marked by the shorebirds as bird-friendly only. There was another beach for public use that overlooked Lake Erie. We were advised by our friends to not swim at this park; however, there was one brave person out there swimming between the cove. There are many paved walking and biking trails here and plenty of picnic shelters and spots to relax. We opted for lunch at a pavilion and some beach time to play in the sand and run around before getting in the car again to head towards Detroit.

By the time we got to Detroit, we knew we were going to love it! The old, Gothem-style architecture, where art-deco meets new was very cool! This trip would not have been nearly as much fun if we didn’t get to stay and hang out with our friends, The Coffmans! They really took care of us around the city (thanks for helping us re-park downtown to avoid that parking ticket) and show us your favorite things about your city. Even if you all forgot you moved this year and gave us your old address, so some random person’s Ring camera in Detroit has a very confused Jen Carter on it one summer afternoon wondering why Mrs. Coffman wasn’t coming to the door. However, once we found your current home (which is a beautiful Detroit-style masterpiece by the way), you showed us a wonderful time with eating Detroit-style pizza (they claim that Jet’s Pizza, is the BEST).

We explored The Eastern Market, which is America’s largest flower market and is in the “Top 3” largest farmer’s markets in the U.S. and has an abundance of food stalls, flowers, vendors and street performers to check out on a Saturday. We want to give a shout out to Josh and the folks over at Anthology Coffee (around the block from the Eastern Market) for making such good Nitro-brew coffee tonics on such a hot day! Thank you. Also get a homemade popsicle from inside the Farmer’s Market, totally worth it.

Now, legend has it, that there are two competing hot-dog restaurants located side-by-side in downtown Detroit. So the next day, we knew that would be our lunch spot. Prepare to pay about $2.35 for a plain hotdog at Lafayette’s Coney Island. The price is the same at American Coney Island next door. Expect to pay more if you want toppings or a side of chili cheese fries to go with it and a drink. So which one is better? You will have to go and try them both to decide for yourself! These are also fighting words depending on who you talk to, so we will let you decide for yourself (although we favored Lafayette’s if you are comparing a chili cheese coney as your test subject. There are many factors we could judge on, but we were trying to just go with one food item.) Watch the video to see why.

We also took a tour with our friends to some of Detroit’s famous buildings to learn a little bit of state history and city history. The newly renovated Grand Central Station was massive and had a quickly moving line to enter. The kids loved the Lego display inside and we enjoyed the greenway. We also loved touring The Guardian Building to walk off all of those hot dogs and the kids LOVED the Detroit People Mover. All of these things (except lunch) were free things to do in Detroit with kids!

We are very grateful for our friends, both The Lunas and The Coffmans, for having us and for your hospitality and friendship! It was so good to see you!

On our way home, back through Ohio, we stopped for a free picnic at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Brandywine Falls is a beautiful and easy hike (mostly on paved trail or boardwalks). There were plenty of biking and hiking trails here and the kids enjoyed the Visitor’s Center (and ice-cream) near the bridge and old buildings. This national park makes you feel so “far away” even though you are very close to big cities.

Passing back through Kentucky, we stopped at The Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln’s National Historic Park. We are almost certain there was an episode from “The West Wing” where the characters are arguing over “What is on the mantlepiece of Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home?” and the characters go into debate mode because there are many boyhood homes of Lincoln. Which one? Well we made it to two: his birthplace home and his boyhood home. We also love that the nearby township is all Abe Lincoln themed and that was neat to see, along with learning some history along the way.

We also wanted to make one last stop in West Virginia on our way home. We chose the beautiful scenic route through Pocohauntus County to check out the silent town of Green Bank, home of the famous Green Bank Observatory and the world’s largest steerable telescope! Be prepared to have zero Wifi or cell service as the town forbids all of it, as to not interfere with the telescope. We enjoyed the observatory and just opted for the free museum exhibit hall. You will pay $10/person if you opt for an additional bus tour.

All in all, this was one of our cheaper road trips to take for the summer and we would highly recommend doing things in the Midwest USA. We realize we did a lot of cave tours this time and have no regrets, except that if we had more time in Kentucky, people say that The Gorge/Crystal Cave underground kayak tour is supposed to be amazing! Until next adventure, thank you for joining us on our Midwestern Roadtrip in 2024!

On By David CarterIn Family LifeLeave a comment

We Are Off To Niagara Falls!

In the Summer of 2023, we set off from South Carolina to head North to Niagara Falls! Well, actually, we had some dear friends, The Enslows who moved back to Dryden, New York that we had to see as well! They were the pinnacle of the trip and while we were up there visiting them, they said, “Well you know, Niagara Falls is ONLY a few hours away…” so we took them up on it!

This led to our beautiful road trip where we ended up doing even more than we had anticipated and so we tagged on the beginning of our homeschool year with this adventure. Buckle up!

Days 1-4 Washington D.C.

We spent the first few days of our trip squeezing in as much of the free Smithsonian Museums and free things to do with kids in Washington D.C.! We stayed in a comfortable AirBnB in the Shaw neighborhood and opted to walk the few miles everyday (at least one-way, walk around all day and then Uber back “home”). The location was great because it was a mile to Chinatown, the National Mall, and only a mile or so more to the Museum of Natural History, The National Air and Space Museum, The National Botanic Garden and close to food trucks and local parks. We also appreciated the free parking at this neighborhood that did allow us easy access to the car everyday. We would stay there again if we visit DC. There are so many cool spots that we know we missed only having a short time so we plan on coming back here to explore more!

Days 4-6 Delaware! (Dela-where?)

All jokes aside, we drove to northern Delaware to meet up with former coworker and friend, Julia and her beautiful family! Julia and her husband Chris are in the crabbing business, which runs throughout most of the year on the Chesapeake Bay, when they are not teaching and working. It is also important to note that Chris is also an accomplished chef and he generously treated us to a crab pot. The kids were intrigued and he demonstrated how he layers the crabs with a secret blend of spices (like you would layer a lasagna) and steam them. Once they were cooked, he patiently taught us how to “pick” (eat) a crab. They were indeed the BEST (no exaggeration) crabs that we have ever eaten! Julia and Emma also took us to a fun state park, just up the road from where they live: Killens Pond State Park! This park had a herpetarium and Nature Center, lots of biking and walking trails and water activities.

Day 6-7 Gettysburg and Williamsport, Pennsylvania

After we left Delaware, we drove to Gettysburg, PA to visit the National Battlefield and listened to Jonny Cash’s version of Abraham Lincoln’s famous “Gettysburg Address” speech. We found the South Carolina memorial and got our stamp at the Visitor’s Center. The kids will probably remember it being very hot and “there’s nothing here but corn fields.” (But the corn fields are it, where in one day of battle, it was the bloodiest day in US History, on American soil and became the turning point of the Civil War.) After the somber drive through Gettysburg, we drove through Harrisburg and landed in Williamsport for dinner. We ate at a pizza shop on the downtown main street and there also happened to be the inagural parade for the Little League World Series. The Grand Slam parade featured baseball teams from regions across the US as well as hosted teams from other countries. They do parades very well here in Pennsylvania. 18-wheeler trucks passed out cases of Pepsi products and a chip truck passed out entire bags of chips and all the floats had some sort of candy or prize on board that they gladly threw at bystanders.

Days 8-10 Dryden and Ithaca, New York

Spending time with our friends was amazing! It was an honor to meet Bill’s parents, Heather and Bill’s kids (whom we hadn’t met in SC) and to see the sights around their hometown. Buttermilk Falls is their favorite falls in the area and was a nice hike for the kids. We also visited an indoor playground and recreation center in nearby Lansing, NY. Enslows, your hospitality was amazing and we are so grateful for all of you and for showing us around “gorges” Upstate New York!

Days 10-12 Niagara Falls, New York

We stayed at a cheaper hotel because of it’s proximity to the Falls. Driving up to Niagara Falls State Park is really exciting because the rapids in the river are huge! We stopped on the Goat Island pedestrian bridge to watch. We explored the top of American Falls and walked the walking/bike path to Hennepin View and the trails that led to the Powerhouse and Discovery Center (which was seasonally closed). We rode the trolley back to the main parking area. The next morning, we got up, bought sweatshirts (it was that cold in August!) and went to Terrapin Point, where we saw rainbows and beautiful views. Then we toured Cave of the Winds (no line in the morning) where we walked under the spray of Bridal Veil Falls! We had lunch and stood in the afternoon line for Maid of the Mist boat ride up to the base of all three falls: American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls (which belongs to Canada). Note: if you are towards the back of the line, they fill the bottom of the boats first, so we ended up getting to ride on the top of the boat to catch all the views (and all the water!) Even though we opted to not visit Canada on this trip, we really felt like we were able to enjoy all the things we wanted to do.

Days 11-12 Harper’s Ferry and Beckley, West Virginia

On the way home, we made stops to Harper’s Ferry National Historical Park and hiked to St. Peter’s Church and up to Jefferson’s Rock. This is also on the Appalachian Trail, so naturally we had to also visit the Appalachian Trail Conservancy headquarters. This is the mental “half-way” point on the AT. They say, if you can make it here, in either direction, you should keep going. (The physical halfway point is Pine Furnace, Pennsylvania). Miriam got herself an AT shirt and some white-blazed earrings. They have a kids area to play in an AT shelter/play structure and to learn about different hikers who built, preserved and crushed goals on the longest footpath in the US. If you are a hiker and stop in, they have a hiker lounge with free wi-fi, resupply and shuttle services.)

On the way home to continue to stretch our legs and get out of the car, we stumbled upon the Beckley Exhibition Coal Mine. This was the coolest stop-over, where we ended up spending three hours exploring and got a tour. The tour goes inside an old mine (which is open for teaching purposes only) and the tours are conducted by volunteers who used to work underground. Our tour guide, Mike, was excellent! He was full of knowledge and stories and did a great job explaining everything to kids and adults. He made the journey so much fun! Your entrance fee also gives you access to the Coal Miner’s Museum and the Appalachian Mountain Home Museum, AND a hands-on Kid’s Museum which has animation and film themes. After this experience, we headed on home; tired, yet so full of all we saw and experienced! As always, it’s the people that make these trips so worth it! And we are grateful for our friends who hosted us, as well as the new friends we made along the way!

On By David CarterIn Family LifeLeave a comment

South Carolina to Northwest Arkansas Road Trip

On By David CarterIn Road TripsLeave a comment
A memorable stop at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home in Mansfield, Missouri. No pictures are allowed inside the house, but at the end of the tour you get a photo with a Laura Ingalls Wilder cutout.

Our Summer 2021 was our first “big” road trip with our kids, then 3, 5 and 7 that was out of the Carolinas. Our goal was ultimately to see and stay with friends in Northwest Arkansas (Lowell). Along the way, we were able to visit and catch up with more generous friends who let us crash with them. Ultimately, we think trips to see and visit with friends and family make the best trips. Our total distance was 2,400+ miles and we rode 57 hours in the car, without personal screens. Our itenerary was as follows:

Day 1: Rock Hill, South Carolina to Cookeville, Tennessee (336 miles) We drove throught the Carolinas, on the Blue Ridge Parkway into Tennessee. With the Smokies behind us, we drove past Knoxville and into the home of Tennessee Tech University, Cookeville! It reminded us of “dear old” Clemson (University). Lots of cows and farmland. We visited and stayed with our friend, Brandon and also got to visit from Blaine who made the one hour drive down from Nashville. They took us to Red Silo Brewing Company for some good eats and drinks. There was live music on stage and the Pizza Machine Bus was selling pizza out of a converted school bus. We also went to the Lazy Cow Creamery for dessert–very good!

So good to catch up with these guys!

Day 2: Cookeville, TN to Columbia, Missouri (844 miles). We left Cookeville and the drive through the rest of Tennessee was canceled, because of a downed bridge they were repairing in Memphis. So we re-routed through Paducah, Kentucky and went north to Illinois, before it brought us to St. Louis. In St. Louis, we made a stop to visit Gateway Arch National Park. There is a free museum underneath the arch to learn about Missouri history and as you exit the museum, look up! That is that iconic Instagram photo of the arch. We made it to Columbia, home of the University of Missouri, “Mizzou” and to our friends, Paul and Amanda who welcomed us for a night.

The view underneath Gateway Arch
The Gateway to the West Museum

Day 3: Colombia, MO to Lowell, Arkansas (270 miles). We took a lunch break and visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home, in Mansfield, Missouri. We decided to ride through Branson Missouri (it feels similar to Gatlinburg, Tennessee or Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) to stop at the Bass Pro Shop. Bass Pro Shop- White River Outpost, is very big here and this one has a big aquarium to look at while you shop. We also rode past Kids Across America Camp- KAA3, in Golden Missouri, where David worked for a summer. We got into Lowell to stay with our friends, the McDonnoughs and they treated us to several days of rest and family fun.

This is Laura Ingalls Wilder’s retirement home where she wrote her memoirs from her book On The Way Home
Outdoors, fish and guns at Bass Pro Shop in Branson

Day 4: Bentonville, Arkansas (near zero day). We hung out with our friends and got to see the sights of Bentonville, home of the original WalMart, J.B. Hunt and Tyson products. We toured the free WalMart Museum, which is the life and legacy of Sam Walton, the founder of WalMart. We also played in downtown Bentonville’s fountain park and when it got too hot, we walked a few blocks to the downtown Splash Pad for water fun and slushies. Then we walked to the Compton Gardens Trail that leads to the prestigious American Art Musuem- Crystal Bridges. They have lots of public art outside of the museum and because we were all wet from water play, we did not ventue past the bathrooms in the lobby.

Compton Gardens Arboretum has lots of public art throughout it

Day 5: Beaver and Eureka Springs, Arkansas (40 miles, or one hour away from Lowell). We did a small travel day and visited the beautiful village of Beaver, Arkansas and had a picnic by the “Little Golden Gate” suspension bridge. Eureka Springs is nearby and feels like a smaller Asheville, North Carolina. Plenty of coffee shops and places to eat and shop, bubbling and trickling springs to find around the town and you drive up to the creepy, Crescent Hotel at the top of the hill for a stay or tour. We enjoyed looking at all the cute “Cape Cod” and “dollhouse” styled houses too. On the way back to Lowell, we also stopped by Thorncrown Chapel, which had a service happening inside.

The single car “Little Golden Gate” bridge in Beaver
Having a snack at Bean Me Up coffeeshop, in Eureka Springs

Day 7: Rodgers, Arkansas (near zero day). We took this day to rest before the drive home. We ate at King Burrito, a local drive-thru Mexican restaurant. How I wish someone would bring this to South Carolina! You would make millions! We also went to downtown Rodgers splash pad to play and also visited Iron Horse Coffee Company for a date. Thanks friends for gifting us that!

Thank you friends!

Day 8: Lowell, Arkansas to Huntsville, Alabama (549 miles). We rode through the University of Arkansas, where we got our “Fayettechill” sticker from. We drove through endless green fields of the Mississippi Delta. We took a detour to Oxford, Mississippi, home of “Ole Miss” the University of Mississippi. Then we briefly stopped to stretch our legs at The Birthplace of Elvis Presley Park, in Tupelo. We made it into Huntville at night, so we saved exploring Huntsville for the morning.

Day 9: Downtown Huntsville and the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (near zero day). We got up early and got an excellent coffee at Honest Coffee Roasters. It is down the street from the famous giant inflatable parrot, Polly Rocket. Once the US Space and Rocket Center opened for the day, we spent the rest of the morning on a tour. We really enjoyed the space-craze exhibit and the Saturn 5 hall. We were also excited to show our kids were US Space Camp meets, if they decide to attend one day. After our 2-3 hour tour, we set off in the direction of home. Huntsville to Rock Hill is 316 miles.

Q and As

What types of accommodations did we stay in?

We are so thankful to our friends in Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas who graciously accommodated us for 1-3 days! It was great to see you and we are grateful for your friendship and hospitality! When we weren’t staying with friends, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Huntsville.

If you didn’t have screens for your kids, what on God’s green Earth did you do?

Luckily, our kids don’t have personal screens, so they didn’t miss them. However, there is nothing wrong with having them! We just like traveling like it’s 1980 with no entertainment (except for music, radio and books and toys) and a lot of paper maps. We listened to audiobooks, such as On the Way Home, and Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We also got each of the kids a new, smaller toy that they had to wait to play with until our road trip.

What would you have done differently?

If we could have redone this trip, we would have taken a few extra days to see more of Arkansas. We avoided Crater of Diamonds State Park because we had small kids and the reviews said it was hard and hot work to mine for your own diamonds (which you may or not find). We had also wished we had one more dsy to take a boat rental on Lake Catherine and visit Hot Springs Nstional Park.

How much does a trip like this cost?

We could have saved money, not eating out on the road so much or drinking so much coffee, however this was our vacation. I regret nothing. Our trip ended up being around $2,000USD including food, fuel, admission to the museums that cost and souvenirs.

If you have any further questions or comments about our trips, please let us know at: teamcarterfamilyadventures@gmail.com or comment below! Thanks for coming along with us!

What Tunes are On Deck for a Team Carter Adventure?

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Listed in no particular order of favorites. We like them all:

“Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver, “Shine on Me” by Dan Auerbach, “I’m On Fire” by Bruce Springsteen, “Kick Drum Heart” by The Avett Brothers, “D Bag Rag” by The Avett Brothers, “Laundry Room” by The Avett Brothers, “The Traveling Song” by The Avett Brothers, “Oh Bany” by LCD Soundsystem, “The Goodness of God” by Bethel Music/Jenn Johnson, “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, “River” by Leon Bridges, “Rivers and Roads” by The Head and The Heart, “For Emma, Forever Ago” by Bon Iver, “Re:Stacks” by Bon Iver and guest appearance by The Staves, “Galway Girl” (sung in an Irish airport version) by Daoiri Farrell, “Livin’ Thing” by Electronic Light Orchestra, “Humours of Whiskey” by Hozir, “Little Boxes” and “Which Side Are You On Boys?” and “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” by Pete Seeger, “Waterfall” by United Pursuit, “Praise Is The Breakthrough” by Kelanie Gloeckler Webb, “Skeleton Bones” and “Carbon Ribs” by John Mark McMillan, “You Know My Name” by Tasha Cobbs Leonard, “Revival’s In The Air” by Melissa Helser/Bethel Music, “Love Is Something (Magic Penny)” by Malvina Reynolds, “Bob Fudge” and “Saskatchewan 1881” by Colter Wall, “Jolene” and “Coat of Many Colors” by Dolly Parton, “Jolene” by Ray LaMontagne and then play the same version of “Jolene” by Ray LaMontagne and The Staves, “Maggie May” by Rod Stewart, “The Bird Hunters” by Turnpike Troubadours, “Way of the Triune God” and “Matthew” by Tyler Childers, “I Ride An Old Paint” by Carl Sandburg, “I’ve Been Everywhere” by Johnny Cash, “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin, “Atlantic City” by Bruce Springsteen, “Greasy Coat” by Hilary Klug, “Aequilibrium” by Andrey Vinogradov, “Cigarettes and Coffee” by Otis Redding, “Electronic Pow Wow” and “Sisters” by A Tribe Called Red (now The Halluci Nation), “The Mountain” (original by Steve Earle, but the Benjamin Todd version), “Wildwood Flower” by Chet Atkins, “King of the Road” by Rodger Miller, “This Land Is Your Land” by Woodie Gutherie

What songs did we miss? Do you have a favorite?

New Podcast is Up!

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Click on the episode links to your right-screen that will show you a list of our newest podcasts and content. 🙂

If I haven’t mentioned it before, we have a podcast on Spotify, Anchor and YouTube now up and running: “Team Carter Family Adventures” where we talk about pretty much everything, unscripted.

Have a listen and share in the conversation. We have special guests sometimes. Please email any comments or suggestions to teamcarterfamilyadventures@gmail.com.

Thank you for listening, liking, and subscribing!

A New Thing:

On By David CarterIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

We are starting a podcast! David and I (and sometimes the kids) talk about our family adventures, our day-to-day life, dreams, musings, failures and such. We hope that you feel as though you were/are sitting on our couch in our living room with us, having a conversation. As always, we appreciate you being with us and hope that you click the link below to have a listen! Thanks, Team Carter Family

https://open.spotify.com/show/0EoAjTHUgMbApBYAHArUbL?si=L5WQ8SsuQAG0R-wQWvEiKg

We Are Building Something

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We are in the process of building something great! I can’t fully articulate what that something is, but I can feel it! We can only see little pieces of the puzzle, but sometimes that is how God works. He only gives me “small bites” at a time. I will have to wait to get the bigger picture.

It was our dream to build a family together. We are doing it! It was our dream to work hard with our hands and to build a business. We (David) are doing it! My husband works so hard to provide for our family so that we can also fulfill a dream of me being able to stay at home with the kids. We are doing it! We also dreamed of being able to travel and go places as a family. Today we are doing it, together!

All we can say is “THANK YOU LORD!” Partnering with God will cost you something. It sometimes means laying down your own “good ideas.” Without God in your plans, they may just be good ideas. God saw our plans and dreams in mind when we got married 11 years ago. He wasn’t worried about changing our plans. They have looked a lot different than we ever could have planned. We trusted Him. We prayed A LOT. We made lots of sacrifices. We continued to follow His voice and obeyed what He told us to do, sometimes when it didn’t even seem logical. Example: we surrendered moving to a city where we knew we would have 1. a job already in place, 2. friends who moved there, 3. a church family and 4. nostalgia for the area (it wouldn’t be a “fresh move”, BUT God said “no.” So we didn’t. Because He told us to go somewhere else. And we followed.

And THAT decision friends, has been THE BEST decision for us! We have seen God bless that decision and give us favor upon favor for trusting Him. Thank you Lord!

What is God calling you to do today? For tomorrow? Can you trust Him? Absolutely, do it!

Praying for you that as you see how He begins to move in your life and confirm over and over again with what He is saying to you and your family, this year in 2021, that you would boldly follow wherever and however He leads you!

“Now may God, the fountain of hope, fill you to overflowing with uncontainable joy and perfect peace as you trust in him. And may the power of the Holy Spirit continually surround your life with his super-abundance until you radiate with hope!”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭15:13‬ ‭TPT‬‬

Honored to be at the JCRE Mid-Year Awards Banquet

Overcoming a Foreboding Spirit (during a Pandemic)

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Do what, now?

I was recently telling a friend that I have this reoccurring thought, or string of thoughts based around fear. Saying them out loud sounded absolutely ridiculous. Yet that’s what this “what-if” scenario fear was —completely nonsensical and ridiculous. What was I afraid of ? “What if this happens?! What if THIS happens?!” “What would happen to my husband or family if this happened…” This friend told me, “That sounds like a tormenting spirit…like it’s tormenting you to be afraid of what is not true, or what will even happen to you.” When I asked her what she thought I should do, she spoke truth into my life that “Meditating on God’s Word, meditating on God’s truth…the truth WILL set you free!” Good word, friend!

“But no weapon that can hurt you has ever been forged. Any accuser who takes you to court will be dismissed as a liar. This is what God’s servants can expect. I’ll see to it that everything works out for the best. God’s Decree.” -Isaiah 54:17- (MSG)

It wasn’t until later, when I was running at the gym that I was listening to a podcast and the speaker was mentioning about “the foreboding spirit of fear.” I didn’t know what “foreboding” meant. I had to go look it up! According to Dictionary.com, “foreboding” means: “fearful apprehension; a feeling that something bad will happen.”

Now I wasn’t necessarily saying these thoughts out loud over myself, but I felt gloomy thinking them. Kim Potter writes, “The goal of this spirit is to: make fear your guiding voice, steal your joy, remove your ability to live in joy and peace and prevent you from seeing a good future for you and your family.” Anyone ever dealt with this same thing? It put words to how I was feeling! You can read her thoughts entirely on this subject HERE.

So how did I get out of this gloomy funk? I kept digging into THE TRUTH about what God says of me, instead of listening to the lies that I thought were of me, but were far from the truth about me. They are just thoughts. I can take captive of my thoughts. I can repent for the things I have done, or the lies that I have believed. I can ask God to show me the truth about who I am. I can read His Word daily. I can be thankful. I can, I can, I CAN!

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” -Romans 12: 1-2 (MSG)

If you are like me and have dealt with these oppressive thoughts that are not your own, I would encourage you to pray, seek God, read His word daily, declare His truth over yourself, change some of your habits if He tells you to…and to know that He is FOR YOU. He is GOOD. He is A LOVING FATHER. He has YOUR BEST. He will never leave you. He has GOOD PLANS for you and YOUR FAMILY. THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Decree it! Love, Team Carter

” Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you. -2 Corinthians 5:16-20- (MSG)

“Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” -Romans 8:26-28- (MSG)

“God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.” -Deuteronomy 31:8 – (MSG)

“None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” – Romans 8:38-39- (MSG)

“So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” -James 1:17-18- (MSG)

How God Moved Us Back to Rock Hill, South Carolina

On By Team Carter FamilyIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Where’s Rock Hill? The South Carolina side of Charlotte, NC. It is a charming small town, only thirty minutes from a booming metropolis.

We used to live here for a little over a year with family, when our first daughter was born. We were two weeks out of buying a house and settling down here. Then that deal fell through and we had to walk away. Turns out, God had other plans for us and told us to move to Charleston, SC. (For the third, yes third time).

Charleston was a good, growing season. We lived near family. Saw old friends. Made new friends. Probably the biggest transitions for us in this season was adding two more kids into our family and David started his career in real estate. That is a testimony to God of how someone with zero sales and marketing experience and zero real estate experience (but with the confidence that God told him to walk into it and with a determined attitude and work ethic). Out of hundreds of applicants, he was one of the few that got the job with Jeff Cook Real Estate. It was amazing to watch him (as his wife and cheerleader) to see him progress from zero to being a top producer in the company in three years. Three years. That’s favor from following what God told him to do!

We were thankful to have had that season in Charleston, but the last year and a half or so, we felt like transition was coming for our family. We could’t articulate the where or why because we couldn’t see it yet.

At first, a job opportunity with the same company opened up in the upstate of South Carolina. We really, really wanted to say “Yes!” We drove up there twice that year to drive around, pray and meet with friends who were already living up there. We had friends. We had a job opportunity waiting on us. We had a church picked out. We would be 45 minutes from the mountains and our beloved Clemson. And still we felt God saying, “No.”

So we didn’t.

Instead, we welcomed our son into the world. We did the newborn season again and were so sleep deprived and busy we couldn’t do much else. It was wonderfully hard. So we gave up the dream of living in Greenville. Just gave it up to God. At the same time, we also didn’t feel peace about putting down roots in Charleston. We were in this weird transition place.

Then David says to me one night, “That’s so weird that Greenville isn’t lining up! I don’t know what God is up to, but I want to go work for my friend (at JCRE) and get some experience from him, so that I can pitch it to the boss in a five or so years: “Hey man, I’ve got all of this managerial experience now. So can I open up a branch for you in Rock Hill?”

Fast forward a few months.

We are driving to Rock Hill for Thanksgiving 2018 and as we are pulling off of the interstate to go to David’s parent’s house, we get a phone call from Mr. Jeff Cook, himself. He says, “I’m thinking about opening up a branch in Rock Hill…and I want you to be the guy.” (something to that effect).

So he/we of course say “YES!” to that question. We didn’t have to really think about it. God blew up our plans and suddenly provided the answer. Suddenly, after three short years, David found himself in a management position. In the next few months he transferred offices to gain some experience as the assistant manager of a branch. While that was taking place, a family member in Rock Hill had an opportunity open up for us to rent their rental property. Of course, these things coincided with when Jeff was planning to launch the Rock Hill branch. This meant that we could all move together as a family.

It was such a suprise blessing to see all of the pieces quickly line up after we said “Yes!” to where our peace was. Point being: GOD WILL MAKE A WAY, even if there seems to be no way. Just keep seeking Him and He will deliver, in His time and you will be exactly where He wants you to be.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” -Jeremiah 29:11-12 NIV-

downtown Rock Hill at sunset (taken from the former JCRE Rock Hill Office, above Amelie’s) taken by yours truly

As an update, in Summer 2023, we are still growing and thriving in beautiful Rock Hill! How can we serve your family this year?

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